


Navigation Mid-Sea

by teletou



Category: Free!
Genre: Canon Related, Dreams, Dreamsharing, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-11 04:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4420952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teletou/pseuds/teletou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I can't really haunt you when you're the one who keeps coming into my dreams,” Makoto says.</p><p>“It's not that I wanted to be here.” He half hopes Makoto doesn't hear, voiced muffled by the sleeve of his jacket.</p><p>“You don't mean that.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. mid-sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isuilde](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isuilde/gifts).



> The long overdue birthday fic from the abyss. I'll, uh, try to finish this before your next birthday HAHAHAHAHAhahaha... ha... ;_;

“I thought you'd be here.”

Rin hears Makoto step onto the porch, sees his orange shoes waver into the blurred edges of his vision. He pretends not to hear, keeps his eyes on the sunset over the wooden fence, counts the droplets of light floating down to the jar of gypsophila across him.

Parted lips paused around a number, a halted breath as Makoto draws a slow inhale. He forces down the lump of air caught in his throat with a frown. Eyes downcast, a furrow between his brows, and Rin asks to the ground, "The fuck do you want?"

A hesitant rustle of clothes, Makoto's words a soft whisper into the air, "I wonder..."

“I'm not dreaming you up, am I?” He asks again.

“We _are_ in a dream.” Makoto's voice sounds distant, and Rin _hates―_

 _Hates_ the way he curls into himself, gravel loud against his soles when he drags his knees to his chest, hates that he feels the need to hide away, hates that he knows the real answer to his question.

"You're real, aren't you?”

He hates that he doesn't want this － Makoto seeing him this way.

“As real as someone in a dream can be.” He can almost imagine Makoto tilting his head, a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. He knows, without having to look, the way Makoto closes his eyes before he sighs. “We really miss you, you know.”

“Is that why you're haunting me? Because I won't reply to your texts?”

_Rin, it's me Makoto._

_We're starting a swim club..._

_We might get to swim together at a tournament..._

He saved his number, doesn't delete the voice message, reads the texts Makoto sends every day. _  
_

_Are you okay?_

_I hope we'll see each other soon._

_Are you working hard today too, Rin?_

It feels like a mistake.

“I can't really haunt you when you're the one who keeps coming into my dreams,” Makoto says.

“It's not that I wanted to be here.” He half hopes Makoto doesn't hear, voiced muffled by the sleeve of his jacket.

“You don't mean that.”

Rin hates that he looks up, at how Makoto's voice cracks just the slightest bit. He hates that he feels himself falter at the sight － Makoto gripping own arm, fingers digging into his cotton shirt. Makoto isn't looking at him, he notices. Hasn't _been_ looking at him either, probably.

He bites his lips, tries to level his breathing as he turns away.

“You don't mean that,” Makoto repeats, maybe more to himself, because Rin almost missed it.

The sun continues to set down the horizon, over a long stretch of silence. Rin slowly drifts into sleep, lulled by the gentle sway of white flowers by his shoes. Between blinks of black, he finds himself looking at a jar on his desk, sunlight passing through the glass, refracted into watery shadows.

Cold shoots around his ankles, when his feet touches the ground. Rin walks across the room, and stops a little ways away. He stares blankly at the three stems of gypsophila through a sleepy haze, curtains playing shadows against the buds.


	2. silly aquatic bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I think I may have followed a rabbit down a hole,” Rin finds himself say, an attempt to set the other boy at ease, maybe. He can’t really remember his own train of thought.
> 
> He gets a hesitant smile for his troubles. “I'm sorry that this isn't wonderland.”

A blanket slides off his shoulders, falls onto the ground as he stands up. Rin turns around, stares blankly at the orange polka-dot print and blinks. _He doesn't have a blanket like that,_ was his first thought, then comes the slow realisation of, _where...?_

There's a jar filled stems of gypsophila on the grounds some ways away from him, by a moss-covered rock. He should probably find out where this is, he thinks. A porch in front of an unfamiliar house, somewhere he doesn't remember going to before bed.

His footsteps feel airy, when he follows a trickle of light – across the garden and out the wooden gates – dewy patches of grass, the earth in late-afternoon colours under his feet.

 

_\-----------_

 

“ _Ah.”_ He stumbles onto stone steps, following a soft _thump –_ the toe of his shoe tapping the rim of a glass jar. The world a sway of orange, a downwards tilt as he steadies himself. A hand reached out, fingertips ghosting over his shadow stretched far across the pavement.

Brushing past, light like fractals fly by – trails across the back of his palm, over a line of white flower buds, disappears down the stairs.

Under the pads of his fingers, pavement scrapes his skin. He pushes, gently, swings himself upright, scuffs his soles as he fumbles his balance. He stays still, dazed for a moment, until something pulls his gaze – distant sounds of rhythmic flaps, a boy standing at the foot of the stone steps. The boy’s parka flutters in the wind, against his back.

He turns to him, a flash of wide-eyed awe fizzling away into a pleasant smile. He breathes in, the moment a wisp of air leaves Rin’s parted lips.

“Good morning, Matsuoka Rin-kun.”

 

_\-----------_

 

“Or afternoon, really...” He looks back to the sun hanging low in the sky, orange dusting his lashes, casting hooded shadows over his eyes. He smiles, sheepish, as his eyes flits down and away, voice small. “I'm not really sure.”

Rin thinks of flashes of brown hair, curling out at someone's nape, a lone droplet of water, the sun streaming through a skylight. He remembers a silhouette of someone standing by a pool, laughing, a loose, carefree smile, feet shuffling nervously.

He has seen this boy somewhere before, he’s fairly sure. A name doesn’t come to mind, though. So he stays quiet, lets a beat or two pass, murmurs a quiet, dazed, “Afternoon...”

“ _Um–_ ” The boy cuts himself off, face red, before curling into himself. He has his fists balled at his chest, shoulders rising and falling with each soft inhale and exhale. “I-I'm sorry, you must have questions, right? I-I'm not sure if I can really answer them.”

 

_\-----------_

 

“I think I may have followed a rabbit down a hole,” Rin finds himself say, an attempt to set the other boy at ease, maybe. He can’t really remember his own train of thought.

He gets a hesitant smile for his troubles. “I'm sorry that this isn't wonderland.”

 

_\-----------_

 

Kaleidoscopic shadows, refracted light over the toebox of his shoes. One bud of gysophila falls, against his shoelace and to the ground. The other boy’s expression softens when he looks down to the jar by Rin’s feet, he starts to speak, but his voice sounds muffled, far.

“ _This is supposed to be my dreams...”_

“ _It’s nice here isn’t it…?”_

 

_\-----------_

 

“The sun is setting,” the boy says, after a long pause. He looks back towards the sea, now tinted purple, the horizon starting to blur around the edges. “I'm going to put you to sleep. You'll be back home when you wake up.”

He takes a step, and he's right in front of Rin, now – a step below, the top of his head at eye level. Rin sees how small the distance between them are, when the boy looks up, green eyes – _close, so close_ – looking straight at him. “I don't know when we can meet again, but...”

Rin doesn’t remember what he says in reply, right after, but the boy chuckles. “I'll wait for you, then.” He raises his hand over Rin's face. With a soft smile and a whisper, everything fades to black. Rin feels himself falling, falling, into deep sleep.

“ _Goodnight._ ”


End file.
